USACollegeChat

Join Us for USACollegeChat — A Free Podcast Coming to You Every Week

Understanding the world of colleges is overwhelming for many public school students and their parents. What is the best choice for you? Is it a public or private college? A two-year or four-year college? A liberal arts or technical college?

These are the questions that we started answering in 2009 for students in one of New York City’s best public high schools. Our students were regular New York City students. They did not have to take a special exam to get in. They did not need great grades in middle school. And yet, most of them went on to college full time after just three years with us, thanks to a remarkable Early College program. But Early College program or not, college is possible for most New York City students. It is just a question of which one. Finding that one is what USACollegeChat is all about.

USACollegeChat’s Schedule

Listen in to our podcast every Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.—or later, whenever you have the time. We have offered a new installment each week since September, 2014.

USACollegeChat’s Audience

Our podcasts are designed for parents of high school juniors, who are planning ahead, and for parents of high school seniors, who have very little time left to help their kids make the best choice for continuing their education after high school. We hope that juniors and seniors themselves will listen, too, so that families can discuss all the possibilities.

USACollegeChat’s Hosts

Our hosts have worked with hundreds of parents and thousands of high school students in New York City public schools in the past seven years, most recently as co-founders (along with principal Chris Aguirre) of City Polytechnic High School of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology, an innovative and successful public Early College high school in Brooklyn. City Poly was founded to serve a population of regular New York City students—about 75 percent black and Latino, about 75 percent free and reduced lunch—who did not need to pass an entrance exam to attend.

Regina H. Paul is currently President of Policy Studies in Education (PSE), a nonprofit organization that has worked on school reform in local school districts nationwide for about 40 years. PSE has also completed market studies for over 250 colleges nationwide, in conjunction with The College Board.

Marie Segares has taught live and online courses for several colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. Until fall, 2013, she served as the Early College Liaison at The City University of New York’s New York City College of Technology.

From time to time, USACollegeChat will welcome guest commentators to talk about their own institutions and the world of colleges in which they operate. We will draw many of these guest commentators from the professional colleagues we have worked closely with over the past decade.